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Welcome to austinagrodolce … My family and I garden with more intention and enthusiasm than allocated budget or overall design plan. It shows. Wildlife populations don't seem to notice our lack of cohesive design, they just like the native plants here. It seems by growing local we've thrown out a welcome mat. Occasionally, we're surprised at who (and what) shows up.



Saturday, March 6, 2010

Lady Marmalade (Cake!)

I am somewhat perverse - I'll own up right here and now.

Whenever I know I am not supposed to do something, or for some reason can not do something, that is all I want to do, all I can think about.

Eighteen minutes into a two hour car trip - guess who can't stop thinking about making a pit stop.

I never once brought a bottle of water from home for an airline flight but once they were forbidden? It is all I can think about as I begrudgingly buy a bottle of water every trip now, to take on the plane, which I promise you I almost never did until after they decided bottles of water could harbor some ingredient of terror. Or something...

Anyway, since we have had a delightful vegan guest here for a while, and having heard about another of my daughter's close friends here developing an almond allergy, after reading this non-vegan almond centric cake it is all I have wanted to bake for two days. So today I decided to give it a try.

Because the most fun part of this (yes folks, I put the fun in dysfunctional) is that this cake is supposed to taste best on the third day.

So ideally, you make this cake and then let it sit there, taunting you with its cakey goodness, for three. whole. days.

Marmalade Cake. It came together quite easily, notes in the recipe about working ahead are well worth taking into account, and I found, as did one commenter, that my cake was done well short of the hour mark (45 minutes and it was getting quite brown, pulling away from the edges of the pan and a toothpick came out clean). Yeah. The toothpick already got him some cake but not me. Nope...

It smells verrrry delicious. I am guessing I might be able to wait until tomorrow...morning. Cake for breakfast, anybody?

You boil an organic orange and I used a Meyer lemon from our little tree crop, you toast 6 ounces of almonds then whirl both of them (serially, not at the same time) in the processor then mix them with eggs, sugar, flour, salt and get this - olive oil.

So yeah, this cake is practically GOOD for you. Vitamin C, eggs, olive oil (and yes, well some sugar but...). Cake!

The original recipe can be found here on Orangette's blog, along with comments, and I made this without any substitutions or shortcuts. Hey - I can follow a recipe....

So once it is cooled I will release it from the prison springpan and liberally coat it with powdered sugar. And then wait... But who knows for how long? Three whole days? Smart money votes "no way".

7 comments:

Kathleen Scott said...

That cake looks and sounds delicious.

I bet you don't make it past Sunday morning...

I'm making your Sweet Potato Chipotle Soup for the drink 'n' dine ladies group meeting at my house this week. And when they cry for the recipe, I'm going to point them at your blog.

TexasDeb said...

Ha - you caught me sitting here this morning, arguing about whether or not I owed it to the blog to go ahead and try some of that cake RIGHT NOW.

Kat, when making that soup, I was advised by Chef Son in order to avoid turning it into a "too hot to eat for most folk" situation such as I already faced, you might want to rinse most/all the adobo sauce off the chipotle peppers called for. He states that is often where most of the heat resides, which will of course, intensify with sitting. It is a lovely soup and deserves its flavors to shine rather than be bullied by the capsaicin. Next time I will use one rinsed pepper knowing people can always add in incidental heat if they so desire....

Kathleen Scott said...

Thanks, Deb. I made the soup last night with an oops (not the peppers). There will be 12 tonight so I doubled the recipe but only put in 2 peppers and the heat is more of a hint.

But after it was made, I realized that half of the stock was SMOKED chicken stock. Shoot! Had to add some brown sugar to tone down the smoke. And it was thick after I blended--too many potatoes, probably, can you tell I was in a hurry?--so I added about a cup of chardonnay, thinking that wine improves most things. And even with all that, it tastes good. I think the pecans will be just the right accent.

TexasDeb said...

Wow - sounds like you may have improved on the recipe actually. I love smoky flavors and sure - the soup was a bit thick I thought too but I'd had mine sitting for 2 days before serving so expected to have to thin it after reheating.

I am betting your lucky guests will totally enjoy your company and their dinner. Have a lovely gathering!

Kathleen Scott said...

Final report--the soup was a resounding success, all 16 women want the recipe. I'm sending them to your blog with the addition to the e-mail of my accidental alterations. Including the half-bottle of chardonnay I added tonight to thin the soup and forgetting the lime juice. The last thing was making the pecans more sweet than savory by omitting chipotle powder and adding brown sugar and salt. Your suggested garnishes, (light)sour cream and pecans, were perfect. Finally the smoky flavor was balanced.

Thanks for your comment today at Hill Country Mysteries. I felt honored.

TexasDeb said...

Kat I am not surprised one bit you had a lovely dinner considering you are perhaps the Hill Country's version of Perle Mesta.

Hope you'll try the cake one of these days - it was certainly as advertised - got better right up until the 4th day when we polished it off!

Kathleen Scott said...

Sounds like you sampled that cake several days...it looked too good to wait, I thought.

Do come this way for Flap Jacks some time and we'll go together.

How are you holding up in the oak storm? I'm not allergic to oak but there is so much of it just now that I can feel it. Makes me think of you and hope you've got good air filters and drugs.